Theater: New Rep’s ‘Oleanna’ takes on renewed urgency

Tuesday

Oct 17, 2017 at 1:05 PMOct 17, 2017 at 1:11 PM

By Iris Fanger/For The Patriot Ledger

By Iris Fanger

For The Patriot Ledger

If, as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then so is evil intent, at least according to playwright, David Mamet. His play, “Oleanna,” premiered in 1992 when the nation was still roiled by Anita Hill’s testimony in the U.S. Senate against Clarence Thomas. As luck would have it, the serendipity in timing for New Rep’s newest production coincides with another furious debate about sexual harassment by a man in power over women seeking advancement in Hollywood in the accusations against Harvey Weinstein.

Mamet’s drama is set on a college campus where a female student visits a male professor in his office. In a he-said, she-said series of scenes played out over a stretch of time, the woman eventually accuses him of sexual harassment and ruins his life and his career. The play’s title refers to a 19th century ruined Utopian project immortalized in a folk song, as if Mamet wants to suggest that the groves of academia are not as peaceful as they seem.

The chief difference in the New Rep production, running in Watertown, is the casting of two African-Americans as John (Johnny Lee Davenport) and Carol (Obehi Janice), among the finest actors in the Boston theater community, to drag in the issue of race, among the problems of gender, power and privilege that are the central themes of the play. When Carol first appears in John’s office, she has come to question her failing grade in his course on education. Their conversation is continually interrupted by phone calls that he takes while she is listening, to convey his good fortune to the audience.

John is on the brink of receiving tenure and plans to buy a house. She listens as he talks to his friend, and to his wife, but makes no comment – at least in the beginning. Although she comes on as passive-aggressive, calling herself “stupid” and complaining that she doesn’t understand the course or the book he has written, she telegraphs a hidden agenda. While he is distracted by the phone calls, she reaches in her backpack, removes what seems to be a mini-tape recorder and pushes the button.

Davenport as John is self-assured, friendly, but abrupt, and condescending, acting like a kindly elder metaphorically patting his inferior on the head to make her behave, actually touching her shoulder to comfort her. As he realizes her agitation, he assures her that he will change her grade to an “A,” if she will come to his office for a number of sessions for help. This cringe-making offer might be innocent or possibly suggestive of future sexual entrapment, signaling a “go” for Carol’s subsequent actions.

Under the taut direction of Elaine Vaan Hogue, the three acts (90 minutes, no intermission) unfold like a Greek tragedy with the ending ordained from the start. As if she were one of the mythological Furies, seeking revenge – and finally power, Carol erupts in escalating, explosive accusations until John can no longer control himself. Goaded to fury himself, he attacks her, setting the scene for his total downfall.

The play takes place on a stripped down stage, designed by James F. Rotondo III, where only a desk and two chairs sit atop a revolving platform, turned by two stagehands to change the room’s perspective. The physical setting resembles a fight ring but the various stops by the circling stage allude to the notion of each person’s differing viewpoint, depending on where he/she stands.

The play’s premiere, and its many subsequent productions, have never failed to elicit angry conversations, depending on how the viewer feels about the subjects of feminism, power, and what kind of behavior constitutes an invasive male-female action. John comes across as Carol’s victim, the accuser who has plotted from the beginning where she needs the interaction to end. Carol is dogmatic in believing in her right, and manipulative of John’s complacency. “Oleanna” does not deliver an easy evening in the theater, to be sure, but certainly one that is no less current now than at its premiere. The more things change, the more they stay the same, to our peril.